Davis stops Ruiz in round one to retain WBA crown

February 11th, 2019

Unbeaten Gervonta Davis retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) super-featherweight title with a first-round knockout win over former champion Hugo Ruiz.

Referee Jack Reiss called a stop to the contest, in front of 8,048 at Dignity Health Sports Park in California, after just two minutes and 29 seconds following a bombardment of punches which floored Mexican veteran Ruiz.

Ruiz had stepped in as a late replacement after Davis’ original opponent, three-division champion, Abner Mares, withdrew last month after suffering an eye injury.

Davis’ promoter Floyd Mayweather was sat ringside and observed the 24-year-old extend his record to 21-0-20KOs.

Elsewhere, Ruiz’s compatriot Rey Vargas successfully defended his World Boxing Council (WBC) super-bantamweight title against Venezuela’s Franklin Manzanilla,while Alberto Machado of Puerto Rico lost his WBA secondary super-featherweight belt to American Andrew Cancio.